Are Tanks Too Strong in Overwatch 2?

The short answer is no – tanks seem strong, but appear appropriately buffed to enable their essential solo tank role within the shift to 5v5 team formats. However, they may feel oppressive at times, especially for less experienced players or in uncoordinated teams.

The Intent Behind Tank Buffs

Overwatch 2 shifted each team‘s composition down to 5 players, reducing tanks from 2 to just 1 per team. This meant that solo tank would need to provide more frontline presence and space creation on their own. To prevent the role from feeling underpowered, tanks received buffs including:

• 50-150 more base health
• Enhanced sustain through self-healing
• Increased damage capabilities

These changes aimed to make tanks more viable solo anchors for a team, rather than just being focused down and eliminated early. Data across ranks shows that tank players have been benefiting:

With tank currently sporting the highest win rates after support, the buffs have seemingly worked as intended.

Where Tanks May Feel "Too Strong"

That said, there are certainly moments where tanks can feel extremely oppressive:

Chokepoints – Tanks spamming damage into narrow openings can deter less organized teams from pushing. Even with sustain healing, they accrue ultimate charge quickly from the poke damage.

Shield Breaking – Barrier tanks like Reinhardt require focus fire to bring shields down. In uncoordinated groups, damage players may waste shots allowing shields to recharge. This makes pushing through them difficult.

Over-Aggression – Overextended tanks sometimes escape consequences through raw survivability, enabling reckless flanking or initiation. Less experienced teams struggle to punish positioning errors.

So tanks aren‘t inherently too strong, but can leverage their buffs to bully weaker teams. However, higher ranked players have adapted both team coordination and counter-picking strategies to deal with oppressive tanks.

Countering "Too Strong" Tanks

To manage the tank-focused meta, pros frequently turn to picks like Reaper, Junkrat, Bastion, and Sombra. %2$s reports:

"Reaper presses W key into beefy tank comps. Bastion melts barriers and clumped tank balls. Sombra hacks disrupt and burst down. Junkrat spam breaks Rein/Zarya reliance on tight corners."

This demonstrates how players are keeping tanks in check by targeting weaknesses, rather than complaining they are universally too strong. The [Overwatch League] also shows adapted tactics around tanks:

• Precision focus fire
• Staggering enemy respawns
• Intelligent ultimate tracking

So at higher levels, players have adjusted to enable counterplay, rather than ask for tank nerfs.

The Solo Tank Responsibility

Importantly, while tanks have more influence than before, they also shoulder more responsibility as the lone frontline. Losing the one tank often means losing the teamfight too.

As tank player Aspen explains:

"It‘s a heavy burden being the solo tank, knowing my mistakes or deaths could cost us the whole match. But with practice, tank is still very much a carry role by enabling space and opportunities for my damage and supports to pop off."

So tanks embracing the buffs comes with pressure to position intelligently to protect the team. Good tank players balance aggression with peel. Bad tank players feed excessively.

Final Verdict: Strong But Fair

In summary, tanks still die when focused fired and countered appropriately. Much of their perceived oppressive power comes from uncoordinated teams struggling into them. In these cases, they feel stronger than they are.

However, insights from both casual and professional play suggest that while tanks are strong, they aren‘t unfairly so. Instead the reworking of tanks aims to make solo tanking viable while requiring adaptation from the opposing team.

So no – tanks are not actually too strong in Overwatch 2. Their buffs enabled a strategic shift to solo tanks. And early meta trends show tanks being kept reasonably in check by intelligent opponents.